Archives: 30before30

It’s May 28th… approximately 141 days since my very first OnRamp class at Fundy CrossFit and 148 days since going cold turkey on spaghetti for every meal, cutting out “bagels as lunch” and omitting “extra cheese” from everything I consume.

My goal in January was to lose 30 pounds before my 30th birthday. Tomorrow is my birthday and I’m happy to report….

*looks up HTML for blinking, scrolling, flashing text*

I did it everybody! I’m 30 pounds lighter and 100x happier!

Eating Well

From years of experience, It’s very clear to me that going to the gym and being active is only 40% of the battle toward looking and feeling better. The remaining 60% is fuelling your body with what it needs and avoiding and cutting down on what it doesn’t.

I tried my best to count points for the first few months of the year. Once I got the hang of it, I found I didn’t really need all of the crap that I did before. I snacked on a lot of Special K crackers, salsa and apple sauce.

Being Active

I was reminded last night that my original plan for #30before30 was to try a bunch of activities. I would spend a month doing yoga, try my hand at boxing, take up running or cycling or skating…

The only activity I managed to do (other than CF) was a few extra walks here and there! I didn’t expect to become as addicted as I did (and am) to CrossFit.

CrossFit

I’m SO GLAD I stuck it out.

When people ask me “oh my goodness how do you do CrossFit? – It’s so hard!”, I try to get across to them – it WAS hard. Now I want it to be harder. I can’t wait for it to be harder. When a workout isn’t that bad, I’m bummed I didn’t add on 5 more pounds. Or when I’m not panting and sweating and wanting a good nap on the gym floor, I think “yeah, I could have pushed harder in the last 2 minutes”.

CrossFit isn’t about beating the person beside you (believe me, I’ve done too many WODs beside Rob Pearson), it’s about beating yourself and the last time you did it.

Since January – I can successfully do a string of real pushups, dead-lift over 110 pounds and jerk 65 pounds over my head. My clean is up to 75 pounds and my box jump is just shy of 16 inches. I feel like I’m winning.

Don’t get me wrong, there were absolutely times when I was losing.

I went 8 weeks straight without improving at all on my back squat. I actually asked if it was possible that “squats just weren’t for me”.

There was also a workout that I still have nightmares over – 150 wall balls for time. I finished that WOD a good 6 minutes after everyone else. A good time for this benchmark workout is around 6 minutes if you do the wall balls unbroken. I was 15 minutes. I actually cried. During the workout. Not a joke. Gillian Goldie finished the workout with me by doing 20 ADDITIONAL wall balls beside me to cheer me on.

I’m so thankful for her and the entire CrossFit community. I couldn’t (and wouldn’t) have made it to my goal without their encouragement.

GAH. Sorry. I’m a sap.

THANK YOU

Thanks Adam Kierstead (for buying healthy groceries & also cooking them all for me), Gillian Goldie (for doing extra wall balls and cheering me on all the time), Greg Pattman (for believing I COULD actually do a squat and then high-fiving me when I (14 weeks later) finally nailed it), Cory Brown (for telling me try on a pair of jeans that didn’t fit me and then following up when he knew they would) and Jen Constantine (who I overheard saying I was faster at burpees. Thanks. That put me on cloud nine for weeks).

Here’s to 30 more pounds! (and a lot less CrossFit talk on barbbarbbarb.com!)

Getting fit is tough if you’re not fuelling your body with the right things. Veggies, fruits, protein and fibre are really important when you’re mapping out your workouts throughout the week.

Do you plan your menus ahead of time?

I’m so thankful for Bridget at Crosby’s Molasses. Not only does she have a great blog where she posts recipes (not all healthy, haha) but she also contributes recipes and commentary to KV Style biweekly.

Note: One of my favourite soup recipes EVER came from Bridget. Last I heard it was being made for a great aunt in Pennsylvania!

When Bridget heard I was committing to showing my face at the gym during the week – she offered up a 30th birthday (yes… that’s coming up quite soon) celebration meal plan! Thanks, Bridget!

Now, who will volunteer to cook it for me?

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If I was to make you a special dinner in honour of your twin milestones — 30th birthday and 30 under 30 challenge success — this is what I’d prepare:

As a side I’d make you a wild rice and barley pilaf. It’s full of fibre and flavour. I make it with hulled barley from Speerville Flour Mill. It’s way more flavourful and nutritious than pot or pearl barley. The dressing is full of aromatic spices so it’s a little exotic. You could substitute brown rice for the barley.

I’m all about loading up on fresh veggie sides this time of year after a winter of roasted vegetables. If you’re game for a beet version (my favourite) I bet you’d love my beet and carrot slaw with tart apple.

So for dessert it’s a bit of a toss up. Would you want to be restrained but still have a delicious treat?

(The answer is yes!)

Apple spice muffin cake. This is a lovely cake that’s not too sweet, includes applesauce and has a beautiful crumb (texture). If you have it I’d use half whole wheat pastry flour from Speerville Flour Mill. It adds so much flavour. Serve the cake with lightly sweetened Greek yogurt.

So there you have it, a celebration meal for someone who has great reason to celebrate.

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Thank you so much, Bridget!

I honestly can’t wait to eat that beet salad. YUM.

Bridget and the folks at Crosby’s Molasses are offering up four tickets to Chansongs with Mary Stewart and Les Hay Babies this Sunday at the Imperial Theatre (but 4 vouchers for a beverage!)

When I spoke with Cory Brown over the Christmas holidays about joining CrossFit – I told him the goal that I had. He was like “OK, but let me warn you. You’re not going to lose weight going to CrossFit”.

Me: OK.

He assured me I’d be happier with how I looked – muscle weighs more than fat blah blah but takes up less space blah blah. He said I’d lose inches, but not pounds.

When I started OnRamp, the coaches suggested that I bring along a notebook. At the time I wasn’t really sure what I would write in it? I knew it would be hard but I didn’t think I’d need to record my feelings about it in a diary.

Dear Diary,

Today I did 100 wall balls and I didn’t even cry.

It actually looks like this:

Having the weights I used during OnRamp recorded will be particularly helpful in a few months when I look back on my progress.

During week 1 and 2 I held steady on my back squat, push press and snatch. I increased to 35 lbs on my press, 30 lbs on my clean and 60 lbs on my deadlift.

At the bottom of each page I’ve been recording the workouts (WODs) that I’ve done each day as well as the weight I’ve done them at and the time it took me to complete them. I’m noticing now that I’m reading them again – my handwriting is terrible and I’m not sure I’ll understand whatever cryptic language I’ve written the details in.

But for now I’ll just keep it as proof that I did something pretty hard and I actually finished it.

I am obsessed with knowing everything about… everyone. When I started CrossFit a few weeks ago, it was a no-brainer that I would approach the 7 CrossFit coaches and assistant coaches about their “why” as it relates to CrossFit.

I hope you enjoy the features over the next few weeks!

Hi Jon! Tell me about yourself and what you do!

Jonathan Ross, 35 years, born in Saint John, NB.

I work at JD Irving Ltd./Part-Owner at Fundy CrossFit. My education was in Forestry at UNB Fredericton. I ended up specializing in Geographic Information Systems (mapping, GPS kind of stuff) and started with the JD Irving Woodlands department about 10 years ago. I work for their IT division now.

I don’t have a lot of hobbies these days! It’s just a lot of CrossFit. I spend a lot of time with my family outside of work and the gym. Jen and I are lucky that we have a lot of great friends so we love socializing on the weekend when we get time. Growing up and through high school I was just sports sports sports. Mostly basketball but I also played volleyball, football and soccer. I got in to basketball refereeing after university and was a nationally rated official. I refereed a lot of the high school ball around SJ. I did a national tournament and was getting in to much more university level games when I got out of it. I got out of it shortly after we had kids, it took up a lot of time….which is a bit hypocritical now because I dedicate even more of my time to the gym but I love it more, it’s a much more rewarding venture and my family is involved. I love the idea of my kids growing up in a gym surrounded by healthy people! I’ve got two kids, Georgia (5) and Elliott(3) who pretty much rule my world. They’re on my mind at all times for one reason or the other.

When did you join CrossFit?

I started on my own just in my yard and at the UNBSJ track in 2007. I joined the YMCA in 2008 because I wanted to start lifting weights instead of just doing bodyweight exercises. In 2010 I joined the local CrossFit affiliate. Late 2010 I got certified to coach and in 2011 I started coaching.

Appropriately titled “Vacation WOD”

What were your goals when joining?

When I first started I was just looking for a different and unique way to train. I heard of this archaic looking website that had a bunch of crazy workouts on it so I checked it out and wasn’t even sure it was the right website. I couldn’t do much of them because of the weights involved so I found a website with a bunch of bodyweight workouts that you could do while travelling or at home so I just started doing them. My goals were just to be really fit, nothing specific. I wanted to look good and feel good because I really got away from that in university. I gained a lot of weight and felt sluggish and slow. I wanted to get back to that “high school” form! It didn’t take that long, I made a pretty drastic change and went all in with nutrition and CrossFit. If you eat and sleep well and do CrossFit, it doesn’t take long!

What are your goals now?

My goals are much different now. Day to day my goal is to be the best coach I can be. It’s been very rewarding seeing people make incredible physical transformations! I respect the process very much and I don’t ever want people to look at me and see that I’m a “slack” coach or that I can be doing more or that I’m not being as attentive to people as I should be. People pay us a lot of money and put their trust in us to give them the environment, motivation and instruction to succeed. I try to relay this to the assistant coaches as well.

In terms of my physical goals, I’m so busy working about 60 hours a week and trying my best to be a good Dad that I’m just trying to eat well, get as much sleep as I can and get a work out in here and there…but I’m ok with that! It’s been way more rewarding to assist all these wonderful people on a day to day basis, the energy I get from it makes it all worth it.

Jon lifting at the Atlantic Hopper

What piece of advice would you give to new CrossFitters?

Mechanics are paramount for a couple reasons. For one, Injuries are real and we shouldn’t just get away with saying “Oh CrossFit is awesome you don’t get hurt at all!” At Fundy CrossFit our perspective is a little different. We highly respect human movement and understand that if you put yourself in a position that the body isn’t supposed to be in then it’s inevitable: you will get hurt. It might not be today, next week or maybe even a year from now but WE’RE NOT IN THIS FOR THE SHORT TERM, we’re trying to set people up for life! We do our best to take people slow when they need to go slow, understand their restrictions and introduce some corrective exercises so that they can be consistent and eventually move faster and faster.

The second reason is that without efficient proper mechanics, we end up cannibalizing our potential peak athleticism (Kelly Starrett, mobilitywod.com). It’s one of the very core principles we believe in at FCF. Exercising what we refer to as virtuosity in movement will eventually help you to move more efficiently. Moving more efficiently will get you better at everything in the gym: WODs get easier, the bar starts moving up quicker, all of a sudden you’re doing pullups or handstands and other things you never thought you’d be doing!

What is the most underrated workout?

Ha! They’re all pretty underrated…a 500m row scares the blazes out of me and gives me butterflies…whoa…even now typing this to you I noticed that my brow just furrowed and I got a bit of a chill. I’ve got to mention Fran though (21-15-9 Thrusters/pullups), I know it’s the one that everyone will mention cause it’s the most popular, but seriously, it’s completely effin savage.

What is your favourite lift?

I like cleans. Probably because I do them well and can move a lot of weight with them. It’s a perfect example of putting it all together. Strength, power, speed, coordination, and balance all come in to play. It’s also one that you don’t get better at unless you master the mechanics, it’s a constant pursuit of trying to hit the right positions, move quicker, pull properly, stabilize at the right time…it helps to be strong but the technique is much more important.

photo: Mark Hemmings

What are some misconceptions that people might have about CrossFit…

and why aren’t they true?

The biggest one I hear is that people say they need to get in shape first, then I’ll join a CrossFit gym. I understand this, because people see the things we do and without understanding that everyone basically starts from ground zero, it can be intimidating. I just wish I could convince people that it’s not like that with us, we truly respect the beginners and the reasons for intimidation and try to harbor a culture of encouragement and positivity.

The other one that I touched on above is that it’s dangerous. This one actually excites me because I believe that what we’re doing is ahead of the curve to some degree. We don’t shy away from injuries, we try to understand the reasons that one might get hurt by looking at the person’s history and daily habits and address them face on and up front and get people moving in a way that’s safe. We don’t just load people up with weight and tell them to go for it, we hold people back from some movements if we feel they’re not ready but give them things they can do to so that they can eventually get there. We’re very proud of this. So it’s not really a misconception if you don’t train in the right gym and don’t respect mechanics. It’s kind of the same with a lot of sports. Do you go down a black diamond hill if it’s your first day skiing downhill? No, you go down the lazy trails and practice until you feel your ready. Even still when it’s that first time down you probably snow plow, maybe just stop and sit down but you take it easy. It’s kind of the same thing with CrossFit. Eventually after putting in a lot of work you brave the bigger hills.

How can I get the most out of CrossFit?

Eating good food is like taking PEDs for CrossFit, you’ll be amazed at the increased productivity you get from filling your body with the fuel that it is expecting to get. I’m a big believer of natural intake. We should do our best to eat what our body expects us to eat based on the species that we’ve evolved into over the last 10s of thousands of years. We evolved in to this species BECAUSE of this food so I struggle to understand the reasoning behind miracle drugs, magic formula foods, or really anything that comes in a box. Meat, vegetables, healthy fats, fruit and nuts…easy.

Sleep well. We do the work in the gym but when we work out we sort of intentionally break ourselves. The workout is kind of all for naught unless we recover from that work. We do our best recovering when we sleep. Eight hours a night would be optimal.

Those are two obvious ones but the least obvious recommendation I would give you is to try to enjoy the people around you. The owners, myself included, have come to realize that the definition of CrossFit is much more broad than what it was in the beginning. It was originally a prescription, just a method of working out: constantly varied functional movement performed at high intensity. A more modern definition would be: a community of dedicated people who are passionate about the idea of constant self improvement who reach their goals using constantly varied functional movement performed at high intensity. Kind of a mouthful…I just say we’re community of people trying to get fit. The gains that people see are often facilitated not only by just the workout but also because of the support and commitment of the community around them. These folks all got “stuff” going on outside of the gym but once a day we all get together, grind it out, push our boundaries, slap each other a high five and go back out there a little bit better then when they came in. Togetherness can be very powerful.

After the 5 OnRamp sessions (normally 6, but they squeezed the last 2 sessions into 1 Saturday session), the only thing missing from the experience is a certificate! (Seriously, I feel like I need a certificate of completion to proudly display on my fridge.)

I know the lifts that we’ll do going forward during CrossFit classes as well as the other power related moves (like knee ups, box jumps, skipping, burpees, etc). I also have a benchmark weight for each lift to start at during the regular classes.

I’m not going to lie: I was a nervous WRECK going into my first regular class. Would people be nice? Would I freeze and forget how do to a squat? Could I handle the WOD? Would I take 10 minutes longer than everyone else?

During OnRamp I found that there was always a coach to answer my questions, tell me to stop looking around (I have a weird habit where I want to watch everyone else lift weights while I’m lifting weights), shrug my shoulders, straighten my back, widen my legs, dip deeper into my squat… I was really nervous that this would be different going from 3 newbies to 14 CrossFit pros.

You know what?

It wasn’t.

People were SO welcoming. I got high-fived A LOT. I remembered how to squat. I handled the WOD and I finished in about the same time as everyone else (burpees and all!). Greg, the coach, was present and was paying attention to everyone.

It’s important to note that all 14 people aren’t lifting at the same time. You do 5 reps every 3 minutes, so you and up to 2 others rotate based on how much you’re lifting at the time. It’s a good system.

The WOD on Monday was 3 rounds for time (i.e. as fast as you can):

5 Push Presses

10 Front Squats

15 Burpees

Nailed it*.

*See below.

That definitely reads “7:08”

In true Barb fashion, I’ve harassed the 7 coaches with a Q&A about their own personal CrossFit experience. I’ll be posting them over the next few weeks.

Looking back at my 3rd CrossFit class (Tuesday night, for those keeping track)… I’m regretting not getting a photo of my 45 lb deadlift. Or my ring-row form. Or my cheater lunges (Thanks, Jon, for telling me that I was cheating). Or my 16″ BOX JUMP!

I did, however, get a sweaty post-workout selfie in …

thanks to Instagram for having filters that will hide the sweat-glare from my forehead

The 3rd session focused on lunge form, box jumping, kettle bell swinging and dead lifts. My thighs and elbows are the muscle groups recovering from the last session.

I found that the challenge this week was the “easiest” to date, in that I didn’t feel like death had taken me after the workout was done. 7 kettle bell swings, 7 ring rows and 10 lunges … AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) in 7 minutes.

It took me the better part of a week (OK, only 4 days) – but I’m finally back to my old self. Tuesday’s CrossFit workout woke my muscles from a 2 year coma. I hobbled around Wednesday and Thursday, wincing while going up and (especially) down stairs and was barely able to shift from 2nd to 3rd gear in my car.

Thursday’s workout, which I thought would be what actual death felt like, did just the trick I needed it to!

It either warmed up and stretched the right muscles, or made everything else hurt MORE. Either way, no complaints.

Reenactment of my burpee clap …

Thursday, OnRamp Class #2 was GOOD. We had another introduction to weight lifting -this time to the over head press and the push press.

I shocked myself and was able to press a lot more weight that I thought I could. I think I was up to 40 lbs!

Our challenge this week was excruciating. Looking back, I feel like a champ for following through and actually finishing it. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.

Note: I’ve had a pretty easy life.

As fast as we could, we needed to complete 3 sets of wall balls (tossing a medicine ball in the air & catching it in a squat, repeat) and burpees (drop to the ground, push-up or plank, back to standing, jump + clap, repeat). First set was 12 reps, second was 9 reps and the third set was 6 reps. When I finished the challenge at 4:44, the coach wondered if I had planned it that way… blogging at barbbarbbarb.com and all. I would have laughed at his joke but I was unable to speak, breath, talk or react.

Lung capacity aside, I am LOVINGFundy CrossFit. 4 more OnRamp sessions and I’ll be thrown to the wolves. CAN’T WAIT*!

*Although, let’s wait and see how well I can walk up and down stairs after this Tuesday’s class.

I am, probably, the worst cook in Saint John. Onion, garlic, vegetables, oil… I have no idea how to combine them together to make a delicious meal.

I really won the jackpot when I started dating Adam. Not only is he a good boyfriend, but he can take random ingredients from our pantry and fridge and make a delicious meal – from items I would never think of using! And he cooks for me all the time! #Winning

Since I’m on this 30before30 health kick, I thought I’d share some recipes straight from our kitchen courtesy of Adam & a pen and paper on the counter.

Mild Vegan Chili

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 bulbs roasted garlic, minced

2 cups chopped veggies (1 cup carrots, 1 cup peppers)

4 cans tomatoes (diced, no salt)

2 cans PC Blue Menu black beans drained/rinsed

1 can red kidney beans, drained/rinsed

3 tbsp chili powder

1 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper

1/2 to 1 veg. bouillon cube, diluted in 1 tbsp hot water (to taste)

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1 tbsp Crosby’s molasses

1 tsp chipotle powder

1 can corn kernels

juice of 1 lime

Directions:

Add in about that order. Brown onions a bit. Add the lime near the end. Simmer 5 hours or so.
This will yield about 10 – 375 mL servings (which is a PERFECT amount for a bigger lunch!). Each serving is less than 300 calories and about 5 Weight Watchers points. (Not the new pts plus system, but the old Calories/Fat/Fibre system).

I’ve adopted the Weight Watchers platform – point values for all of the food I eat, a suggested number of points per day – and, I think, I have succeeded so far. I’m finding it REALLY hard to balance my points throughout the day. Specifically, I’m finding that after supper I still have a lunch worth of points left…. what gives?

I’m sure I’ll find ways to sneak in an extra banana or a piece of bread at some point. Or maybe I’ll treat myself to a cup of froyo. #YOLO.

Thumbs up after a successful CrossFit visit

Tuesday night was my first OnRamp session at Fundy CrossFit. After a year of listening to friends and relatives talking (non-stop) about it and after a successful #30in30 giveaway/blog post/gym visit – I was intrigued.

OnRamp is a 6 session intro to CrossFit that gives almost one on one coaching through the movements and activities involved in the program. Tonight we went through the stretches done at the beginning of each class, proper squat form and set a benchmark for squatting going forward. I am a weak baby, so I wasn’t shocked to see that my squat weight was well below what I thought I could handle. I think that my “form” (for lack of a better word) needs a little work.

The hardest part of the into CrossFit class was the workout – as many sets of 10 squats and 5 pushups as possible in a 5 minute period. Oh my word. What a challenge. My upper body is lacking and that was painfully and hilariouslyobvious while trying to do the pushups.

I have 5 OnRamp classes left and then I’ve signed on for a month (!!!!) of ACTUAL CrossFit.